So what can we actually ascertain about a student with an NCEA qualification?

Very little, according to the Initiative’s second report, Score! Transforming NCEA Data. It brought to attention the huge variation in grade distribution across subject sub-fields. It is comparatively easier to gain an Excellence grade in Languages and Performing Arts than it is in Mathematics and Statistics. And not surprisingly, they found that more students pass internal assessments than external assessments.

In an attempt to redress these imbalances, the economists at the Initiative came up with a Weighted Relative Performance Index (WRPI) that endeavours to make “sense” of a student’s NCEA credits and provide a fairer comparison of performance between students. 1

It was a laudable attempt. However, one blatant inequity in the NCEA system that was not addressed by the WRPI, and has yet to be discussed widely, is the absence of a sensible time restriction applied to individual external assessments.

Allow me to explain. In Mathematics, students at any of the three NCEA Levels may be entered for a three-hour external examination comprising up to three achievement standards. Each achievement standard is a self-contained assessment/paper, sealed up in its own plastic wrapping. (Biodegradable, I hope.)

It would seem reasonable that each of the three papers should be completed in approximately one hour. 2 Therefore, it would seem reasonable that if a school decides to enter a student for fewer than three achievement standards, then the duration of the exam should be reduced, i.e. one hour for one paper, two hours for two papers. But no, not with NCEA! Schools may enter students for one or two papers, and students still get three hours to complete them!

This obviously puts students entered for three papers at a disadvantage. Are these students supposed to console themselves that they are receiving a better education, even if their peers come out with higher grades because they had more time?

Schools can, and do, game the system by entering their students for fewer than three papers. But students can also game the system by electing to not attempt all of the papers for which they are entered. If they leave the plastic wrapping intact, they will receive a Standard Not Attempted/Assessed (SNA), and apparently this is better than a Not Achieved (N).

Really?? According to this memo, it’s better for schools because School Result Summaries will include N’s but not SNA’s. Also, SNA allows for the possibility that “a student ran out of time so an N would not be a fair result”. In other words, it’s better to fail to try than to try and fail.

For those chasing an Endorsement, it is actually in their best interests to attempt fewer papers and go for higher grades. For example, for a student chasing an Excellence endorsement, two Excellence grades would be preferable to three Merit grades.

Our national secondary school examination system actually rewards students for doing less work.

The acknowledgement of effort is lacking even within an individual paper. In a traditional marking scheme, every correct answer would contribute to the final mark, but NCEA is a standards-based assessment system with “top down” marking. 3 Therefore, confident students can take a gamble and jump straight to the harder parts of a question. It’s a risky strategy, but if it pays off, they may achieve Excellence having answered roughly a third of the paper. This flies in the face of the instruction printed on the cover page: “You should attempt ALL the questions in this booklet.” If you do well, then some of what you do could turn out to be a waste of time.

NCEA is a system that does little to incentivise students to put in maximum effort or to persevere if the results are likely to be sub-optimal. Until these problems are addressed, mediocrity will prevail. We welcome the Ministry of Education’s review of NCEA this year, and hope to be part of that discussion.

Dr Audrey Tan, Mathmo Consulting
21 March 2018

1 Ironically, NZQA in their utopian socialist bubble didn’t want us to compare students, but it’s happening anyway. Students compare themselves, universities have already come up with their own weighted metrics, and employers are learning that “E” grades on a Record of Achievement are actually higher than “A” grades.

2 Prior to 2013, each paper used to start with the recommendation “You are advised to spend 60 minutes answering the questions in this booklet.”, but not any more.

3 Anecdotally, not all markers appear to follow this methodology. Perhaps they too feel that any positive efforts should be acknowledged, even if ultimately ignored in the final score.

The PISA 2015 results are out and the Minister of Education is claiming an improvement in New Zealand’s rankings! Unfortunately, upon looking more closely at the Mathematics scores, citing a move from 23rd place to 21st place as an improvement is pure fantasy.

Liechtenstein, ranked 8th in 2012, did not participate in 2015. Had they participated in 2015, it is unlikely their score (535) would have fallen by so much as to affect New Zealand’s ranking. New Zealand automatically went up by a place just because Liechtenstein pulled out.

Vietnam scored 511 in 2012 but has dropped back significantly to 495 in 2015, exactly the same score as New Zealand. It’s not clear to me why New Zealand was ranked one place ahead of Vietnam, and not the other way round.

These facts alone mean that New Zealand could easily be placed at 23rd again.

A more mature approach to understanding the PISA results is to look at New Zealand’s recent and long-term score trends, relative to the OECD average.

From 2012 to 2015, all of our scores (in Maths, Science and Reading) have dropped, but in line with the OECD average. However, there is a much more concerning long-term decline, with a significant drop from 2009 to 2012, that does not follow the same trend as the OECD average. The 28 point drop in Mathematics from 2003 to 2015 is equivalent to nearly a year’s worth of schooling.

Of particular concern are the growing proportions of low-achieving children performing below Level 2. In Reading, students below Level 2 “have difficulty with all but the simplest reading tasks measured by PISA. Level 2 is considered a baseline level at which students begin to demonstrate the reading skills and competencies that will enable them to participate effectively later in life.” In Mathematics, “Level 2 is considered to be a baseline level at which students begin to demonstrate the competencies that will enable them to participate actively in mathematics-related life situations.” In 2015, 22% of New Zealand’s 15-year-old students could “complete only relatively basic mathematics tasks and whose lack of skills is a barrier to learning.”

PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is an international study that assesses and compares how well countries are educationally preparing their 15-year-old students to meet real-life opportunities and challenges. With our apparent long-term decline in all three subjects, and in conjunction with our perennial poor performance in TIMSS, can we say honestly say that New Zealand is heading in the right direction?